


Eagles and Butterflies

by Bofur1



Series: The Two Blue Wizards [9]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Major Character Almost-Death, Major Character Injury, wizardry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 15:52:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Bofur1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bombur barely registered his brother's scream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eagles and Butterflies

Bombur leapt to his feet, pulling Bofur up with him. He was too stunned to speak.

“Bombur,” Bofur breathed again. That was all he said in Common Speech. Holding tightly to Bombur’s arm Bofur began muttering rapidly in a low tone. “Uvzi lfi wzip nztrx, zoo erov xivzgfivh lkklhrmt fh!”

Bombur tensed upon hearing the threat. He knew Bofur wanted him to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Bombur swallowed. His voice just a tad shaky, he began murmuring along. “Rm lfi hlfh dv xziib wzmtvi zmw szgv gldziwh blf. Yvdziv rg, yvdziv rg!”

“Yvdziv rg!” Bofur echoed intensely.

The Orcs were growing rather confused, which was what the Blue Wizards were trying to accomplish. Time was what Gandalf needed to think of a plan. Bombur looked to the sky, never stopping his quiet chant as his eyes followed a monarch butterfly as it flittered up into the tree. Gandalf let it land on his staff and carefully drew it to him.

Disaster happened then. One of the Orcs, growing restless and impatient, drew back his bow and centered on the strangely-hatted Dwarf. Bombur perceived the arrow before Bofur did and reacted. Before he knew it Bombur was on his back again, while intense pain blossomed in his chest. Bombur barely registered his brother’s scream; all that he knew was the agony in his solar plexus. He opened his mouth to speak.

“That...that hurts...” he platitudinized.  “We shouldn’t have done that. Let’s not do that next time.”

Bofur had no time to reply. Instead with a wild cry he threw himself down just as a warg leapt for his head. Noise erupted all around them, but Bombur wasn’t able to sit up and look. He heard thuds echo through the ground, and Dwarven axes ringing against Orcish scimitars. Wargs barked and snarled, and Bombur watched in a haze as sprays of blood arced through the air above him.

Perhaps it would end here, Bombur decided hazily. One always did hear the rumors of arrow wounds to the chest. They were often fatal, and the food in Mahal’s Kingdom was sure to be good...

His contemplations were interrupted when his brother’s voice, shrill with panic, rang out in the night.

“Wlm’g ovzev nv, Alatar, kovzhv!” Bofur truly was fraught to utilize Bombur’s Maiar name, Alatar, as he pleaded with him.

Bombur realized that until he answered Bofur would be distracted and reckless in his fighting. “Hglk dliibrmt, Pallando. R’oo yv urmv...” He didn’t grasp that his reassurances were only croaks instead of shouts.

Consciousness blipped in and out for a moment or two, and then Bombur opened his eyes and found that he was no longer prostrate on grass but on warm, sun-kissed stone. Had he reached the Waiting Halls already? Bombur always believed he would have to walk through the spirit world to get there. As he sat up, though, Bombur realized that he was on a peak high above the ground.

Bofur released his breath in a sob and threw his arms around his brother’s neck. “I thought you were dead, little brother!” he gasped, pressing his face into Bombur’s shirt.

“I thought I was too,” Bombur replied, his brows furrowing in confusion. “What...what happened to me?”

“Gandalf, Bofur, and Óin are to thank for your life,” Glóin announced, rubbing the shoulder of his still-tense brother.

Bombur cocked his head. “What about the Orcs?”

Bifur put his hands together and made a soaring motion. Bombur stared at him blankly.

“Butterflies?”

Bifur would have slapped a hand to his forehead, but the axe impeded this. Therefore he settled for crossing his arms and huffing most petulantly.

“Eagles,” Gandalf translated. “Lord Gwaihir and his followers arrived in good time and rescued us from the fate devised for us by the Defiler.”

Bombur gently pried Bofur away from him as he clarified in awe, “Azog?”

“The very one,” Thorin agreed, his voice tinged with bitterness and brooding.

“Well, like Gandalf said,” Kíli interrupted with a proud smirk, “we were rescued, and there’s no way for Azog to get to us now.”

“You’d be surprised, laddie,” Balin warned gravely. “As is obvious, the Pale Orc has ways of appearing in unwanted places.”

As he rubbed the bandaged area beneath his shirt Bombur felt his spirit fall. Would they _ever_ be out of danger?

**Author's Note:**

> Mwahaha, you're probably curious about the Wizard language I've created. No, I did NOT just write a bunch of gibberish, though it may seem that way; I actually put thought into it. ;) The code (below) is actually rather simple, so I'll let you try to translate what the Blue Wizards were saying. 
> 
> A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  
> Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A


End file.
